Structure of the MCQ examination
The MCQ examination is a computer-administered examination comprising 150 multiplechoice questions administered over 3.5 hours.
At least half of the questions are taken from a pool of previously calibrated questions. The remainder of the questions are new questions – that is questions that have not previously been used in an AMC MCQ examination. These new questions and candidate responses are inspected and calibrated before being used for scoring. The examination is delivered as a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT).
A CAT format of MCQ is a form of computer-based test administration in which each candidate takes a unique, customised examination. Research has confirmed the comparability between CATs and fixed length tests, but with CATs requiring less than half the number of questions to obtain more precise results. Each CAT MCQ examination is automatically equated to any other test drawn from the AMC pools. In the CAT MCQ format examination, for each candidate the first question is randomly selected from the item pool. If the answer to the question is incorrect, the next question chosen is a less difficult question; if correct, the next question is a more difficult question. This process is continued as the examination delivers questions based on the previous responses until the last question is reached. After each response, the computer calculates the ability estimate (“score”) based on all the information available and obtained to that point.
Each CAT MCQ examination is automatically equated to any other test drawn from the AMC pools. In the CAT MCQ format examination, for each candidate the first question is randomly selected from the item pool. If the answer to the question is incorrect, the next question chosen is a less difficult question; if correct, the next question is a more difficult question. This process is continued as the examination delivers questions based on the previous responses until the last question is reached. After each response, the computer calculates the ability estimate (“score”) based on all the information available and obtained to that point. The precision of the ability estimate improves as the process is continued because the questions are targeted to the latest ability estimate of each candidate. A pass/fail point (cut score or standard) is defined for the whole examination, and each candidate is measured against this point regardless of the group of candidates with whom they are examined, or the particular set of CAT questions they are administered as part of the examination, or when they take the test.
Scoring of the MCQ Examination As stated, candidates are expected to answer all 150 MCQ questions in the examination. It is important to note that the determination of a candidate’s ability is not based simply on the number of correct answers given by the candidate. Because of the CAT component of the examination some candidates would have been administered difficult questions whilst others would have been administered easier questions – depending on the correct or incorrect answers to previous questions. Therefore, if candidates have the same number of correct answers, the ability of the candidate that answered the difficult questions will be higher than the ability of the candidate that answered the easier questions. The AMC score is based on measurement of the candidate ability level and (for convenience) represented on a scale of 0 to 500. A passing score is represented on the scale at 250.
Failure to complete all 150 items in the AMC CAT MCQ examination may lead to insufficient information for a reliable ability to be determined and therefore a result on the AMC adaptive scale. The examination result may be recorded as Fail – insufficient data to obtain result. Each candidate receives a computer-generated transcript of their results and feedback on their performance in the MCQ examination.
Venue and scheduling: The AMC conducts the MCQ examinations throughout the year, in centres within Australia and overseas. To view a list of examination venues, please visit www.vue.com/amc
Candidate results will be available to download from their candidate portal at 9.00am on the Thursday, four weeks following their AMC CAT MCQ examination.
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